Technical Institutions and Industry Associations
The only activity that was organised at a local market level by the company when I joined them were technical trainings. However, they were irregular ad-hoc occurrences highly dependent on the availability of our German trainers. I negotiated successfully with our German headquarters for a regular calendar of technical training to our region.
My marketing team also worked with our key customers in each country to convince them to host these trainings. I produced technical manuals and product brochures for the first time in Bahasa Indonesia, Thai and Mandarin. And I ensured that these product trainings had a decent dose of marketing agenda. For example, I would use these technical trainings to launch new promotions in conjunction with the local distributors, distribute survey forms, collect local market intelligence etc.
In time, these integrated actives became a regular feature of our market activities in our region and we established a training calendar. In time when our product management department grew and expanded, I handed over the training responsibilities to them and continued to support them actively.
Technical Manuals and Product Brochures
Many of the automotive service professionals in the automotive independent aftermarket did not have proper technical training or credentials and learned on-the-job as apprentices from young. Sometimes, free technical trainings and manuals from large automotive suppliers were the only ways these automotive technicians were able to lean and expand their knowledge. At that time, such technical literature was mainly available in English.
In order to reach out and to put our brands and products into their hands, I invested in a publishing program to translate and print a range essential technical literature in three languages for the first time: Mandarin, Bahasa Indonesia and Thai, in addition to English. My marketing team distributed these publications via technical trainings as part of the welcome packs.
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